Improvement in portable fences



` W. W. Pons; VLFORTAB.LE-FENCE.

.N,17 3,337, Patented Feb. a, 15716..

N yEI'ERS. PHOT0-UTHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D. C.

IvrTED STATES WILLIAM W; POTTS, OF S'WEDELAND, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN-PORTABLE FENCES. y

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1 73,337, dated February 8, 1876; application filed v v January 115, 1876.

To all uhom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, INILLIAM W. POTTS, of Swedeland, in the county of Mongomery and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Portable Fences, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

The object ofmy invention is to produce a portable fence for farms and countryr lots, which will be not only strongand substantial when set up, but more readily removable, as occasion may require the same to be either moved from field to field, or packed away out of the weather when not required in use, and also more simple and inexpensive'of construction.

Figure 1 represents, in perspective, two panels of my improved fence as set up and counected with the supporting-post between; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of Fig. 1, below the dotted line c w of the latter; and Fig. 3 a vertical transverse section of the supporting-post.

Each panel A o r A' consists of end pieces of wood 2 2 or 3 3, and rails 4 4 of the same material, secured together to the end pieces' 2 2 by means of pivots 5, through each end of the rails 44 and their respective end pieces 2 2, as shown in panel A and partly in the panel A, so that while the parts are securely held fast together, as shown in Fig. 1, eitherA end of the panel may be easily raised or lowered to correspond with a rising or falling surface of the ground. The said panels may be made with wire rails 6 6 by bending each of their respective ends to right angles, and attaching them to the two respective wooden end pieces 3 3 by passing the short or bent ends through corresponding round holes in the end pieces3 3, and then bending the short projecting ends of the wire rails 6 6 down closely against the end pieces 3 3, as represented in the panel A, in which four of said vwire rails are shown, and a top and bottom rail, 4 4, of wood; but all of the rails of each panel may be. of wire only, and if the panels are over eight or ten feet long, a vertical stretcher, (not sl1own,) of either wood or stiff wire, may be secured across the mid-length of the panel to keep the rails from being sagged or pressed downward.

It will be seen that each end of the wire rails will form a pivot-joint, and allow the panel to Abe adapted to rising or falling surfaces of the ground, as in the panels having the wooden rails. On one side of one of the end pieces of each panel two flat and tapering iron plates,

7 7, are riveted firmly, so as to project inward about three inches, and serve as clamps over the opposite end piece of the 4next-panel, and Vthus connect therends of the panels together, with the stem b', or upper portion of the supportingpost B,.between, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The post B (see Fig. 3) consists of a slender bar, b', of malleable, iron of rectangn` lar section, straight, and lcorresponding in thickness with the thickness of the wooden end pieces 2 3, and acast-iron ground-piece, b, provided with a horizontal circular cap or ilange, 11". lThe malleable or wrought-iron portion b has its lower end cast fast in the upper or flange end of the cast-iron groundpiece b, and consequently the three parts b b b' form the one post B. The part b is about half anV inch thick and three or four inches wide, strengthened by a rib along each of its two side edges, and about two feet long, the lower end being wedge-shaped or sharpened, for the purpose of causing it to be the more easily pushed or driven into the ground in putting up the fence, substantially as represented by Fig. 3. y

In the process of putting -up my said improved fence, the rst post is pushed by hand into the ground, or driven by any sufficientlyheavy ramming-bar if the ground be too hard to admit of its being pushed into the same, until the llange or cap b" comes into close contact with the former. The firstv panel A is then applied to the posttby bringing the inner edge of the end piece 3 against the farther side of the rectangular portion of the part b' of the latter, and securing the opposite end piece of said panel A firmly to any suitable stationary post fixed in the ground at the starting-place, (not shown,) and thus drawing the inner edge of the opposite end piece into close contact with the forward edge of the part b of the planted post B, as represented by Fig. 1. The next panel A is then applied to the said post and panel A by catching its two projecting plates 7 7 over the inner edge of the end piece which is in cont-act with the post B, as above described, and then drawing the inner edge of said end piece ot' panel AV into close contact with the post, as represented by Figs. 1 and 2, thus clamping and binding the said ends of both panels and the post together, and in the same manner the third and successive panels are to be attached together with their appropriate post, and the required fenee completed.

In planting the posts their bases b should be arranged with their broad sides in alignment witlrthe course of the fence, for the purpose of better sustaining the upright position of the panels against strong wind-blasts.

It will be understood, without any further description or explanation, that when my said improved fence is in position, or set up, as described, the posts and panels are locked together securely, and that the posts will 'securely sustain the upright position ofthe panels against strong blasts of wind; that it is very simple of construction and inexpensive; and, moreover, can be easily taken apart, removed, and set up in another place, or stored away out of the weather, with facility.

WILLIAM W. POTTS. Witnesses:

THOMAS N. WENTZ, ABM. S. HALLMAN. 

